Lysander Republican Committee selects candidate for November special election

Provided photo / 2007Former Oswego County Legislature Chairman Russ Johnson will run for Lysander Town Board in November.

Lysander, NY -- The Lysander Republican Committee selected former Oswego County Legislature Chairman Russ Johnson to run for a Lysander Town Board seat in a special election in November.

The seat was vacated by Brian May, a Republican, after he was elected to the Onondaga County Legislature. James Hickey was appointed to the vacated seat by the current town board in January. Hickey will serve the rest of May’s term and the seat will be up for election in November.

Johnson, who moved to Baldwinsville in January 2010, is a retired Fulton Police lieutenant. He served on the Oswego County Legislature from 1994-2007 and was chairman for the last four years of his tenure.

Johnson said he is honored for the selection by the LRC and is looking forward to the campaign and meeting Lysander residents.

“I think it’s time the people have a good and clean campaign,” Johnson said.

Candidates involved in the 2011 election said it was the ugliest election season they had ever seen.

Physical fights, stolen signs, damaged property and written attacks on social media and news outlets riddled the campaign. When the dust settled the town had a new town supervisor and two new town councilors, all members of Lysander First, a bipartisan group of community members from different political parties who wanted to bring change to the town.

Russ said he is no stranger to combative politics. In Oswego he was involved in controversies regarding the reappointment of the county highway superintendent and accusations of corruption in The Fulton Newspapers. Johnson blamed the newspaper for his loss for reelection in 2007 and filed a lawsuit against the paper in 2008. It was later dismissed.

Russ said his daughter attends the Baldwinsville Central School District and he plans to be apart of the Lysander community for a long time.

“This community is ready for a turning point,” he said.

LRC Chairman Mike Bishoff said he was thrilled to have Russ as the LRC candidate.

“His depth of knowledge of the budgeting process as well as his ability to build consensus relationships will truly be an asset to Lysander,” Bishoff said in a news release.